World Snooker Rankings 2011/12: Seedings Revision Three Round-Up

The climax of the Welsh Open not only saw Ding Junhui lift his fifth ranking event title, but it also saw the third mid-season seedings revision ahead of the World Championship draw. Click below for a summary of all of the changes compared to the previous cut…

Click here to view the final standings at the third mid-season seedings revision

Click here to view the new projected seedings list, looking forward to the end of the season

The Top 16

No Change

For the second successive revision, there was to be no change to the top 16 at the third seedings cut-off as Mark Davis and Ricky Walden again fell short, while Ronnie O’Sullivan’s German Masters success saw him rise two places to 14th.

With a real gulf opening up between the 16th and 17th ranked players in the next projected seedings list, for me this is a strong indication that with rankings that are more regularly updated, we are seeing a more accurate top 16, where in the past there may have been a couple of players hanging in there thanks to results from nearly three years earlier…

17-32

In a straight role-reversal from the last seedings revision, Ken Doherty moves back above Rory McLeod into 32nd and a place in the final qualifying round of the upcoming World Championship.

While he could not win a frame against either Mark Williams in Berlin or Mark Allen in Newport, the 2800 points earned by successfully qualifying for each tournament were enough to see him edge back ahead of McLeod, who failed to qualify for either.

33-48

No Change

As with the top 16, this cut-off saw no change to the top 48, although Xiao Guodong and Mark Joyce both came within a win of leapfrogging Jimmy White only to fall just short.

With few points to come off between now and May however, I would be surprised if Xiao were not to make the leap by the end of the season, while Dave Harold is also a man with little to defend, certainly compared to the likes of Alan McManus and Mark Joyce around him.

49-64

Having struggled for results during the past year or so, Alfie Burden lost his place inside the top 64 back in January, but with his marginally improved form of late seeing him win matches at both the German and Welsh qualifiers, he has swiftly recovered that status at the expense of Li Yan.

An early loser in both tournaments, Li in fact drops six places to number 70, though is assured of his main tour status for next season come what may thanks to his results during the PTC events earlier in the season.

One interesting observation prior to the WC draw, assuming I understand the 2012/2013 qualification rules correctly:

The PTC order of merit is already set, but which 8 will qualify for the 12/13 tour will still depend on which players do not make it onto the tour among the top 64. As it stands Li Yan in 43rd on the PTCOoM is the first of these 8, and Maflin (60) and Grace (63) the two last.

However looking at the projected seeding, on the least secure places we find #63 David Gilbert and #64 Yu Delu, both of which is above the bunch on the PTCOoM, in 43rd (tied) and 34th respectively. Meaning that if they drop off the top 64 they will qualify anyhow through the PTC, and thereby pushing Grace and Maflin out.

Fortunately, for the China Open draw, Gilbert and Yu Delu is in different quarters from Maflin and Grace, but if the WC draw schedules them to meet, we might get the abomination that the only way for Maflin or Grace to stay on the tour is to lose to Gilbert or Delu to ensure that they keep their top 64 spot…

bluelagoon

Honi soit qui mal y pense. Would be interesting from the betting point of view 😉